This document provides an overview of distributed file systems (DFS), including their structure, naming and transparency, remote file access, caching, and example systems. Some key points: - A DFS manages dispersed storage devices across a network to provide shared files and storage. It provides location transparency so the physical location of files is hidden from users. - Remote file access in DFS is enabled through caching, where frequently accessed data is cached locally to reduce network traffic. This raises cache consistency issues in keeping cached copies up-to-date. - The Andrew distributed computing environment example presented a DFS with a shared name space spanning over 5,000 workstations using whole-file caching for remote access.